"Seraglio"

"She hesitated for a moment, as if there was something
else she wanted to say, but then she seemed to change her mind. Instead,
her jaw clenched and her voice grew louder. "They cannot make me a
slave. I am a du Buc De Rivery." I shook my head as much in sadness
as in anger. Had she not understood? It did not matter who she was. The
past was gone. Only the present was important. And at present, and for the
rest of her life, she was and would be a slave.

Janet
Wallach's first novel is based on the true story of Aimee du Buc de Rivery,
a 13-year-old girl, kidnapped on the high seas by Algerian pirates and
presented as a gift to Abdul Hamid, the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire in
1788. She was returning to her homeland, Martinique, after being educated
in a French convent, when she was abducted and became a slave in the Sultan's
harem.

The headstrong
and precocious girl becomes one of the hundreds of female slaves, who
is taught art, music, dancing, and how to "please a man," among
other things. She is renamed Nakshidil, which means "embroidered
on the heart."

The novel
is narrated by Tulip, one of the harem's eunuchs. Tulip is put in charge
of this somewhat spoiled 13-year-old, and becomes Nakshidil's confidante
and best friend for life. Tulip is one of the few people in the Topkapi
palace who can speak different languages; he becomes responsible for how
she acts and what she learns.

"You
are not to speak French any longer," I ordered. You are to forget
the name Aimee, and who your family is and where you came from. You
are in the harem now. You will learn Arabic and Turkish; you will study
Islam, you will become a Muslim."

After Nakshidil
comes to the realization that her family will not come to Turkey and rescue
her, she makes great efforts to learn, and becomes very adept at all that
is required of her. One of the interesting aspects of this book is the
relationship between Nakshidil and Tulip. Their loyalty and friendship
towards each other lasts a lifetime.

The novel
follows Nakshidil through the next 30 years. It illustrates how Nakshidil
rose through the ranks, becoming the confidante of sultans, and eventually
the valide sultan - the queen mother and the most powerful woman in the
Ottoman Empire - even more important than
the sultan's wives, having complete control over the harem. In this role,
Nakshidil was instrumental in opening up the western European culture
to the Muslim world of Turkey. As legend would have it, she is also believed
to be Josephine Bonaparte's long lost cousin.

Janet Wallach
has effectively illustrated the Muslim religion, and also has given us
an interesting glimpse into the "harem." The harem had a definite
hierarchy, and protocol and rules that needed to be followed at all costs.
If the rules were not followed, anyone in the palace was in extreme danger
of being executed-- being shackled, put in a sack, weighed down, and thrown
into the Bosphorus, a favorite execution for slaves of the harem. The
book also shows the complete decadence that surrounded the women of the
harem.

"A
parade of peacocks, bejeweled princesses -- the four sisters and six
daughters of the sultan -- followed by the five kadins, twenty-six concubines,
and twenty mistresses -- arabesqued into the Entertainment Hall of the
harem. The twelve dancers came next and we, the eunuchs, trailed behind
like fancy horses' tails, sweeping into the vast salon, the most elaborate
room in the private quarters of the sultan."

Wallach also
reveals the inner-strife and conflict within the Topkapi palace walls,
which eventually caused the demise of the Ottoman Empire. Once a sultan
died or was murdered, the entire harem, including the eunuchs and the
valide sultan, were sent to Eski Saray- The Palace of Tears. Tulip &
Nakshidil spent some time within the walls of this palace.

It was when
Sultan Mahmud came to power that Nakshidil became the valide sultan of
the empire, as Nakshidil had become Mahmud's guardian when he was four.
A former sultan had a quote inscribed in the valide's sultan's rooms of
the palace, which describes what the queen mother stood for. "A sea
of benevolence, a mine of constancy." Sultan Mahmud tried to add
Western thought and culture to his empire. This was in large part due
to his mother, who said things such as, "I tell you my son, if the
Ottoman Empire is to survive, then we must look to the French." Sadly,
these thoughts often resulted in revolts and fatwas from Muslim religious
leaders.

This book
is a terrific bit of history, and Wallach, a proclaimed Middle Eastern
expert, has gone to great lengths to provide us with a marvelous interpretation
in this novel.

Book Marks:

About the Author:

Janet
Wallach is
the former fashion director of Garfinckel's in Washington, D.C., and a
fashion director in New York City and has also written two books on fashion.
She is also a biographer and has published books on the life of Gertrude
Bell and Coco Chanel.

Janet, an
expert on the Middle East, coauthored three books on the subject. She
is a frequent contributor to publications such as The Washington Post
Magazine. Seraglio is her first novel.

Janet is
also a founder of Seeds of Peace,
a non-profit organization created by her husband, the late John
Wallach, that brings teenagers from countries in conflict to a summer
program in the United States.